CURRENT AFFAIRS
02 September 2020
NATIONAL NEWS:
A) SC provides telecom companies 10 years to pay AGR dues.
The Supreme Court on 1 September allowed the telecom companies a time of 10 years to pay their adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues to the government. The government had earlier suggested a 20-year-formula for them to make staggered payments of the dues. An October 2019 judgement of the court in the AGR issue had originally wanted that the companies should make the repayment in 3 months. But the Centre had intervened, saying it would create a huge financial crisis in the telecom sector. The chairmen and managing directors of the telecom companies should sign the undertakings to follow the court judgment. The AGR dues should be paid from April 1, 2021 till March 31, 2031 as yearly instalments.
B) Allahabad HC orders release of Dr Kafeel Khan, revokes NSA charges. The Allahabad High Court has ordered the immediate release of Dr Kafeel Khan, who has been in jail since January 29 for delivering a speech at the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) on December 12, 2019 during the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) protests. The court said that the prosecution had failed to produce corroborative evidence to show that Khan’s speech promoted hatred or violence. Furthermore, the order declared that the extended detention of Khan was illegal. Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi, who had in July written to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath seeking justice for Khan, welcomed the court order.
C) Congress steps up attack over GDP contraction.
Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on 1 September said that the collapse of the Indian economy started with the November 2016 demonetization. Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh tweeted the chronology of the policies : 1. Demonetisation & botched up GST killed growth. 2. Tax cuts put money in hands of corporates instead of people. Consumption collapsed. 3. Unplanned lockdown led to total meltdown of economy. Former Union Finance Minister P. Chidamabaram lauded the stance taken by various states with regard to GST compensation and asserted that the Centre should bear the burden of additional borrowing.
D) Delhi HC grants bail to Pinjra Tod member Devangana Kalita in riots case
On 1 September, the Delhi High Court has granted bail to Pinjra Tod activist Devangana Kalita, who was arrested in the northeast Delhi riots case. The bail was granted because of the failure of police to produce any material showing her delivering a hate speech. However, she will continue to remain in jail, as she has managed to secure bail in only 3 of the 4 cases registered against her, and the Delhi police has invoked sections of the stringent anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in a separate case against her. The bail granted to her is in connection with an FIR registered on February 26, 2020, which is being investigated by the Crime Branch. She is currently facing 4 different FIRs in connection with the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) protests in Jafrabad, the northeast Delhi riots, and violence in Daryaganj during a protest against the new citizenship law last year.
E) Covid watch: Numbers.
The number of reported coronavirus cases from India stood at 37,59,989 at the with the death toll at 66,451. Former President Pranab Mukherjee, who passed away on 31 August, was cremated with full military honours on 1 September. His cremation was done by his son Abhijit Mukherjee at the Lodhi crematorium on 1 September. Earlier, Mukherjee’s mortal remains were placed at his residence, 10 Rajaji Marg, to enable dignitaries and the general public to pay their last respects.
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
A) Charlie Hebdo will republish the cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.
On 1 September, the satirical weekly of French, Charlie Hebdo, the target of a massacre by Islamist gunmen in 2015 said that it will republish the hugely controversial cartoons of Prophet Mohammed. This decision was taken to mark the start of the trial of the alleged accomplices of the attackers. “We will never lie down. We will never give up,” this week. The director of the magazine has wrote this in an editorial which will go with the republished cartoons in its latest edition.
B) China won’t be the first to escalate’ says foreign minister Wang Yi.
On 1 September, the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi said that Beijing will not be the first to complicate or escalate the situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh. As the boundary between China and India has not yet been demarcated, there will always be problems of this kind. He said that China was ready to manage all issues through dialogue and called on India to place the issues in an appropriate position in the bilateral relationship. Moreover, they also accused India of breaking earlier consensus and called on India to immediately withdraw its troops in statements issued in Beijing and New Delhi that questioned India’s account of the latest tensions. On 31 August, the Indian Army had said that on the night of August 29 , the PLA violated the previous agreements and carried out provocative military movements to change the status quo, and India had also taken appropriate measures to pre-empt these moves.
